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James Van Der Beek died on Wednesday<\/a> following a years-long battle with colorectal cancer. But before his death, he filmed one final project: He’ll appear in the upcoming Prime series Elle<\/em>, a prequel to the 2001 film Legally Blonde<\/em>, set to premiere later this year.<\/p>\n Van Der Beek, whose wife, Kimberly, announced his death<\/a> on Wednesday, lived with colorectal cancer<\/a> for more than two years before his death. Despite his August 2023 cancer diagnosis, the Dawson\u2019s Creek <\/em>alum has continued to work. In the upcoming show Elle<\/em><\/a>, he portrays the school superintendent and mayoral candidate Dean Wilson.<\/p>\n In May 2025, Van Der Beek announced his casting, writing in an Instagram post<\/a>, \u201cSo, this is exciting\u2026 I\u2019m going back to work for a bit. Super excited to join this awesome cast in such a fun project. Almost as excited as my wife and girls are that I\u2019m doing this \ud83d\ude0d #LegallyBlond #Elle.\u201d<\/p>\n Producer Witherspoon wrote in the comments section, \u201cYES!! Best news ever! Welcome to our show.\u201d<\/p>\n Production on Elle <\/em>reportedly began in April 2025, and the series is set to premiere on July 1, 2026<\/a>. The show follows Witherspoon\u2019s Legally Blonde<\/em> character, Elle Woods, during her high school years, with newcomer Lexi Minetree as the star. It received an early Season 2 renewal<\/a> in January.<\/p>\n In an interview with Today<\/em><\/a> in December 2025, Van Der Beek explained why he chose to work on Elle <\/em>despite his health struggles.<\/p>\n “The greatest thing about work is cancer doesn’t exist between action and cut,” he said. “It was fun to drop in and just have a blast because it’s such a great cast, a great production, and everybody out there is really talented.”<\/p>\n Elle <\/em>is not the only project that Van Der Beek worked on in the wake of his cancer diagnosis. He also appeared in Prime Video<\/a>\u2019s Overcompensating<\/em>, reality series The Masked Singer <\/em>and Tubi\u2019s Sidelined: The QB and Me<\/em>, as well as the sequel Sidelined: Intercepted<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n